2. While it may seem like a good idea at the time to challenge someone older, double your size and obviously a marine, you might want to think twice when that someone has also played the god, Thor.

3. North Korea certainly picked the most opportune time to invade: every single United States Military Member was either on vacation or retired.

4. Hemsworth seems to like visiting cabins in the woods in 2012. Sadly, this one didn't pan out for him like the last one.

5. While escaping a North Korean concentration camp bent on converting Americans to their lifestyle, it is necessary to run with a randomly and implausibly available American flag to show patriotism in a film that states America abandons its citizens at the first sign of trouble.

6. One U.S. missile is used to shoot down just one of the thousands of invading planes and a solitary cop car is on the rescue. Why am I paying taxes again?

8. Incredibly, rabbit ears still work. And, if you believe that lie, listen to the news.

9. Daryl, played by Conner "Tom" Cruise, has a black father. That's gotta raise some questions.

10. An Independence Day speech about "home" does not hold up today.

11. One "asshole and his buddy" can easily take off with all the food that would feed a dozen kids, indefinitely, while the North Koreans set up shop.

12. After ruthlessly invading another country and telling its citizens they are there to install morals, somehow people listen. If only it weren't for those meddling kids

13. When in seclusion in a mine shaft, cellphone batteries last for weeks, while my own needs charging every couple of hours.

14. Silently leaving to go grab a beer can be as deadly as crying out: "I'll be riiiiight back."

15. When one resistance member causes the death of another to save his ungrateful, useless and blonde girlfriend he calls "family," all is forgiven by the fallen's girlfriend with a simple, two-finger peace sign.

16. And, it's socially acceptable to abandon and endanger the rest of the victims on a makeshift prison bus to rescue said dumb blonde, as long as it's all about "true love."

17. Cramming an entire season of Walking Dead and Falling Skies into one 90-minute movie makes you wish for an invasion of any kind.

18. Getting shot in the stomach and leaving the bullet intact can't possibly lead to anything bad.

21. When no one notices two "terrorists" leaving a business, it's reasonable to assume the invaders will automatically find the culprit who aided their escape

22. And when the bad guys do locate that person and stage a public execution, it's further plausible that our heroes will know the exact location of the killing and thwart the assassination in perfect harmony.

23. Subway® restaurants stay fresh while America is invaded.

24. When robbing said Subway® restaurant, combining all fountain drinks into one bucket that's probably used to either mop the floor or gather the puke of unsatisfied Subway® customers, makes soldiers smile instead of puke, themselves.

25. Thinking of luring those North Korean soldiers into an alleyway for an amateur ambush? Fear not: no one for a mile will hear you discharge multiple machine guns. In an echoing alley. With more guards nearby.

26. Trying to remove a truck out of mud? It's always best to have the strongest behind the wheel while the weaklings push.

27. Hating kids that are able to blindly leap down three stories and not die by either the fall or two armed guards at their descent is supposed to be funny. I guess.

28. Aimlessly wandering and retired military men fill the damnedest of plot holes. Unsuccessfully, but still.

29. If Tom Cruise believes "it worked for Will Smith" when he also attempted to make his own son a star in Red Dawn, he's probably just jumping on another couch.

30. An EMP can apparently shut down not only the country's entire electrical system, but also the whole U.S. government, armed forces, police, firemen, ambulances, backup systems, 911, missiles, defenses and satellites over a thousand miles up. But, it has no effect on cars, radios or radio stations.

31. Also, in time, electronics come back online, but all the satellites seem to have drifted off to some neighboring galaxy. I suppose.

32. Without explanation, other than to hurry up the movie, a villain can produce the exact location of the heroes' hideout without satellites, scouts, intel or previous plot-hole characters directing them.

33. Remaking a cult-hit takes balls. Admitting defeat = iron balls.

34. North Korean's fully gassed military vehicles can be folded nicely into soldier's backpacks and used, instantaneously, when they land.

I'm sure this movie shows more or less how it looked when US forces dropped in to say hello in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 30 year old teenagers in this movie throw out mercilessly sub par dialog like "This is not their land. This is our back yard and we're going to fight for it," or "they killed our father, we have to fight or die." I'm sure that's what they said in Fallujah too when good ol' George W. sent his invading army to destroy their country. Aaameeerica, Aaameeerrrrriiiicaa!! God save them all, they do make me laugh and cry at the same time.

Enough has already been said in previous reviews about the wildly idiotic plot and lazy directing. Rather get the 1984 version. At least it had some heart in it, though the plot was just as ludicrous, playing on the strange fear of communism America has always fostered.

One more thing! Modern movies (this one being no exception) way overuse the lazy technique of compressing together various sorts of character growth sequences into a few minutes. It's very annoying and shows a lack of skill on everyones part.

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There are big, loud and dumb movies, and then there are movies like 'Red Dawn', which deserve to belong to a category in themselves for being sheer stupidity magnified. The fact that this was in fact a remake of a 1984 movie that starred the likes of Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey is no excuse for how blatantly silly the premise is – if you're looking to give it another go, the least you can do is to try to make it better.

For those who have not heard of that John Milius picture, its essential conceit was how a ragtag group of teens become a formidable resistance force when their peaceful community is suddenly attacked by an occupying force. The Russians were the ones unfortunate enough to be vilified then – not surprising given the lingering Cold War fears – but writers Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore have made the North Koreans the invaders this time round, though any real world relevance the opening sequence of edited news footage might suggest the movie would have is quickly thrown out of the window barely ten minutes into the film.

After briefly introducing the audience to the pair of brothers – the newly returned Iraq War veteran Jed Eckert (Chris Hemsworth) and his hot-headed younger brother Matt (Josh Peck) – the North Koreans are literally dropped into the movie. Waking up the rumble of explosions, Jed and Matt are horrified to discover that the sky is dotted with North Korean bombers and scores of soldiers are parachuting into the town in a hostile takeover attempt. If it already sounds unconvincing as we are describing it to you, trust us when we tell you it looks even more ridiculous on screen.

Are we supposed to believe that within the span of one night, the North Koreans have suddenly made their way halfway across the globe to attack America? Are we supposed to believe that they could have come with all that firepower? And worst of all, are we supposed to even buy into the fact that they would even bother about a small town called Spokane? Sure, we would willingly suspend our disbelief for a movie that bothers to make sense; but 'Red Dawn' makes no such attempt, and utterly baffles in how it thinks it can get away with such an absurd setup.

Does it get better along the way? Absolutely not. Seeing his father executed before their eyes, Jed comes to the conclusion that they need to prepare for war – and just like that, he becomes training commander of a young team of rebels who call themselves the 'Wolverines'. They learn to fight, to shoot and to hide, all in the name of preparing to wage an urban guerrilla campaign against the North Koreans who have taken over their town with their arsenal of soldiers, jeeps, and tanks.

And when they are finally ready, Matt decides to undermine their plans by scuttling off to rescue his girlfriend Erica (Isabel Lucas), thereby igniting a brotherly conflict between the rational and responsible Jed and the impulsive and impetuous Matt. What a pathetic attempt at trying to make us care about two stock types who frankly are just in the movie so we have the good guys – the same goes for bringing Toni (Adrianne Paliki) and Erica into the fray and building some sort of romantic links between Jed and Matt respectively.

Even if we accept the tradeoffs in plot and character most B-movies would have their audience make, the least director Dan Bradley could have done is to mount some decently shot action sequences. That is precisely Bradley should have done with his cameraman Mitchell Amundsen – shoot him point blank. Clearly trying too hard to emulate the 'Bourne' films to lend the action a sense of urgency, the shaky camera-work is downright frustrating to watch, and even more so because the sequences – especially the final one set within a huge circular room fronted on all sides with glass windows – are pretty promising to begin with.

No thanks to its abundant flaws, the movie also wastes its promising young cast. Hemsworth has good presence as the smart leader of the team (he takes over Patrick Swayze's role in the original), while Josh Hutcherson (who played Peeta in 'The Hunger Games' and here is in C. Thomas Howell's role) brings naivety and temperance to the role of Robert Kitner, a bookish type who turns warrior because of circumstance. Less convincing is Peck, who mostly just looks too stoned to convey any sort of inner dilemma his character is supposed to face.

Nonetheless, the acting is the least of the flaws in a movie that is painfully illogical and utterly nonsensical. Its invasion scenario might have been able to fly with an audience in the '80s, but to try to transplant the same premise to today's context is just plain daftness. Ironically, there are some moments that appear to suggest that the filmmakers are wise enough to know not to take the movie too seriously – but those moments fade away as soon as the next unabashed war-mongering scene arrives.

Don't get us wrong – this isn't about whether we love B-action movies or not. We do, but it is movies that insult the intelligence of its audience that we truly detest, and 'Red Dawn' is one perfect example of that. Watch only if you need to understand the meaning of stupid.

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I was not going to talk about this moving until I saw one of the actors interviewed on CNN. He talked about making it better than the original because today's audiences are more sophisticated that they were 30 years ago and need a better story and acting. Please, this movie is full of special effects and CGI, the acting is sub par and, it's just a bad, bad movie. If this movies shows anything, it's that Hollywood has no respect for audiences and just recycles an old movie, loads it with pretty faces and special effects, makes it PC and throws it out at audiences. Seems that every year, Hollywood throws out trash like this, fills it with CGI and special effects, lot's of fires and explosions and calls it "art".

A complete waste of time unless you are a male in his early teens.

if a movie could get 0 stars, that's what I would give this movie. It will be in the bargain bin at Walmart for .49 Even at this price, it's not worth the money.

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Honestly you are better off going to North Korea than seeing this poor excuse of a movie. Honestly I wish N. Korea would invade us just so they could stop the distribution of this awful film. It is a shame that this movie was made in Michigan, not exactly a boost to our rep. I have no idea why they chose Josh Peck for one of the male leads. He makes Hayden Christiansen look like Marlon Brando in his prime. Now that I think about it, I might even have to suggest seeing that new Twilight instead of this. I know that's pretty extreme, but trust me it's really that bad. It also makes sense that this was filmed back in 2009 and just now is being released. In hindsight, the studio should've just cut its losses and canned this thing for good. The one positive is perhaps it will cause people to watch the original film from the 80's which is actually watchable.

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This pitiful remake is nothing more than a hurried excuse to make money off of an 80′s action brand that made its money off of the pretty faces that starred in it, by doing more of the same. Oh well, we've got Chris Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, right? (both fine actors, by the way). But wait, hell with them, let's have a greasy-looking, stoner-faced, mumbling Josh Peck as our war-torn hero. These "pretty faces" fill out the empty space where the rest of the story about a hostile North Korean attack on American soil should be. Wait, where's the United States military? Hell with them, there's some device that shut them all down, and these kids are our last hope! Yeah, right. If you can tie an anchor to every last one of your disbeliefs and drown them in the waters of horrible cinema, then maybe you can appreciate one or two of the well- orchestrated and intense action scenes that "Red Dawn 2.0″ has to offer. Maybe you can even grow attached to some of the characters. But hell with all that, and hell with an ending. That's the reward for your investment. But hey, the studios probably made enough money for a sequel. So there's that.

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It's been a while, since I have seen something this bad. In fact, I spent the whole screening time waiting for the movie to start making sense. The Koreans invade using a top secret EMP weapon that SINKS SUBMARINES (oh yeah) but leaves all electronics intact and working, with no resistance from the armed forces, apparently taking everyone by surprise. To remedy the situation, US sends 3(!) marines to take orders from a resistance cell operated by a local high school team in order to retrieve an unhackable device that lets the invading forces communicate with each other during the "blackout" (once again, all the electronics still work just fine). They succeed and escape to Canada, leaving the insurgent kids alone against the enemy. The Koreans seem to be completely incompetent and untrained: Not one of them can hit a target, prisoners are rounded up at a high school football team with only a few guards, when laying siege to a building, they never bother to cover the exits, etc. A mysterious Russian guy appears and is immediately identified as a counter insurgency expert. Despite this, he appears in the movie exactly twice and both time does nothing. On top of this, the product placement is pretty bad: at times it seems like the whole flick was shot by using ad money from rolling rock and hammermill. I want my 12 dollars back.

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I came with somewhat high hopes, and I don't think I could have been more let down. The story is alright, since mostly follows the original and they didn't have much to write on their own. But they really screwed the pooch on this one. Acting was among the worst I have ever seen. Hemsworth is the only one that was passable, the rest disgustingly atrocious. Josh Peck is an absolute joke, It was painful to watch him, he should never have been casted. Even after filming somebody should have done something to midigate his performance. I can't speak enough to how terrible he was. The rest of the supporting cast not much better. Seems like all they could do was make dramatic faces and awkwardly spew out their lines.

This whole movie was terrible, i feel bad for anyone who is associated with this garbage, for the original movie and cast, because the new generation will likely judge their work on this ridiculous performance.

I really hope that the next time somebody decides to re-make a movie, they put some real effort into it.

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Words cannot begin to describe how awful this movie is. Not sure if it was meant to be serious or a parody that went haywire. This movie could not end soon enough and the fact that its rating is sitting at a 5 on IMDb right now just made me lose a ton of respect for the IMDb ratings.

My wife and I can't stop talking about how bad this movie was. A group of high school students terrorize an entire N. Korea army which for some reason or another took over small town USA? WTF? We couldn't stop laughing when the N. Korea military leader kept yelling "The wolverine terrorists are attacking..." yeah - watch out for those high school snipers (all 5 of them) terrorizing your artillery of tanks and thousands of troops.

I couldn't make up this movie plot and can't reasonably understand how any movie director or studio could come up with this, let alone actually release it to the public. It embarrasses the entire movie industry.

The director and studio should be banned from producing movies for life.

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I always wonder who approves these kind of movie ideas? This movie was more annoying then anything I have seen in a very long time, and I felt the urge to walk out numerous times. I did my best not to compare this to the original, and kept an open mind as much as I could. However, this movie lacks real tension and emotion. The opening invasion scenes were very promising, but it went sadly downhill from there. The story arc of Matt Eckert was awful. There were absolutely zero plot twists, the most surprising part was when Jed was killed. But who shot him? I mean come on, the star of the movie gets killed by a "loud bang" out of nowhere, it's like the producers were making this up as they went. There was never a feeling of a big "show down" brewing, no climax. No character repertoire, just a big sterile, loud, jerky camera waste of time. I feel a remake of a classic film should be a homage to that original film. Otherwise, what use is it? Is this what the younger generation likes in action movies these days? I sure hope not.

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Ending on a far more positive note that the first Red Dawn, this updated 21st century adaption of that Cold War classic has the USA invaded by North Korea and of course with help from Russia. Interesting how the film was made in 2009 and shelved for two years while we changed the villains from Chinese to North Korean because we have to think of that big Chinese market. That's capitalism at its finest.

Geopolitically it doesn't make much sense either. The Russians if anything have become super nationalist with the Russian Orthodox Church having more power than they did with the Czars. I doubt they would be helping the government of the still true believers in Revolution. Ditto the Chinese. Back in the day I remember when one did not refer to mainland China without the prefix Red attached to it. But about 30 seconds after Mao Tse-tung could not fog a mirror the revolution was over in China and not a moment too soon. Those who survived Mao's Red Guards could testify to that. Now they're as capitalist as we are with certain lip service paid to Mao just like in Russia lip service to the ideals of Lenin.

What these two did do after the fall of the Soviet Union which kept North Korea alive is say you're on your own Kim family and the little family enterprise you call a country. Like Prussia, it's a state that supports an army because if you don't join the army, you and your family might starve. And now they can't feed their people, but they can build their own nukes to threaten all around who enjoy prosperity. That's all of their neighbors.

The recent saber rattling of North Korea has given some credence to the popularity of this film as it did in the recent Olympus has fallen. The North Koreans invade, thousands of paratroopers over the Pacific rim and we're told that Russians are in the East Coast. They declared cyber warfare by screwing up our military defense systems and invaded.

And like the first version some high school kids fight the invaders and they call themselves Wolverines after their football team. The Wolverine which ironically is an endangered species is one fierce animal that never gives up and will take on a bigger foe and win.

Unlike the first version the kids are lucky enough to have Chris Hemsworth who was in Iraq to train them. Hemsworth's brother is Josh Peck and they gather a crew together and reek havoc on the occupiers. The action is also located in the Pacific Northwest and the Wolverines do some urban guerrilla warfare. The original story had the kids living and doing their thing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming.

In the original which I liked more than this both Patrick Swayze and C. Thomas Howell were killed and the story had an Ishmael like ending with one Wolverine surviving to tell the tale of the kids who fought back while America regrouped to reclaim itself. This one ended on a more upbeat, but false note.

Then again it was a far wackier premise with this plot than with the other version.

A few of the positive reviews for this film were probably written by real people... like 13 year old boys, and frustrated, wannabe soldiers who failed the IQ test.

The rest can only have been added here by a cubicle farm of movie studio marketing drones, who really earned their pay trying to think of good things to say about this sad, career-damaging waste of time.

Josh Peck is one of the all-time worst casting calls, and should become a cautionary tale amongst casting agents.

Agent 1: 'What do you think of this guy for the main character?'

Agent 2: 'Are you trying to 'Josh Peck' this film?'

He looks about 20 years older than his older brother, and even in the most dramatic scenes - has a mopey expression on his face that makes you want to slap him. All I can imagine is that he helped fund the film, because there's no other logical reason for him playing this part.

I would have liked to be in the screening room when they showed this to the studio head. There was probably a long silence when the curtain fell, as half a dozen people were fired by text.

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This is a remake of a 1980s film where America gets occupied by the Soviet Union and Cuba . Hardly a credible premise but you have to meet it on its own right wing terms . Originally this remake was going to feature an occupation of America by the Chinese . Hardly a credible premise but the fact American films get shown in China nowadays means there's a massive potential market and being worried about losing money the producers then changed the enemy invasion force to the North Koreans . This is where the whole movie collapses from the outset

Some people have defended this film on the grounds that such an invasion could be possible down to the fact that NK has an army of one million people under arms . Indeed it does but this misses out that it lacks any logistical capacity . While amateurs talk tactics professionals talk logistics . NK lacks any force projection . By this I mean it lacks any capacity to invade neighbouring countries . It has no real serviceable navy and even a possible invasion of South Korea would involve hundreds of thousands of troops being transported in either trucks or on foot so any surprise attack on America by NK is laughable . The screenplay does try to get around this unconvincing premise by stating the Koreans have launched an attack by EMP weapons that have destroyed America's communication systems and are are being helped by the Russians though it's never stated why the Russians would be brothers in arms with North Korea

John Milius wrote the original RED DAWN as a right wing wish fulfillment . The world has changed beyond all recognition since then so what's the political subtext ? Is there one ? I'm not sure . One of the protagonists is a former veteran of the Iraqi conflict and leading the band of guerrilla fighters he makes the point " When I was abroad we were the good guys because we brought order . Now we're the bad guys because we bring chaos " I fail see the thinking behind this . Order=good , chaos = bad ? How is that then ? Surely it should be democracy good , tyranny bad ? If you're expecting any profound discussion about the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter you're watching the wrong film because the remake of RED DAWN is more concerned about setting up action packed set-pieces where brave Americans kill nasty Asiatic commies

Even then the action scenes collapse when you give them any thought . Don't the North Korean soldiers have things like road blocks where anyone passes through has to be searched for weapons ? There's also a lack of internal continuity . You can guarantee that when the script demands it there's literally thousands of NKs patrolling the streets of the city then when the guerrillas launch an attack there's only a handful of North Koreans who are cannon fodder , then the good guys are back in their camp safe and sound . Why didn't the thousands of communists just head them off in the pass ?

The original film was bad enough but this one is worse . You can perhaps say this remake has better action scenes but for an action scene to successfully work then there has to still an element of credibility involved and everything about this film lacks any credible element and feels anachronistic in any point it might be making . Indeed in the 1980s American control was criticised in case America became a target of foreign invasion . Try claiming people should be allowed access to guns in case of a sneak attack by North Korea and listen to the laughter

I'm not sure why everyone is so hard on this film.. maybe because they were comparing it to the original Red Dawn? Or maybe they were expecting too much?

I skimmed through some of the other reviews which all seemed to base their low rating 3 ideas. 1. that it's unlikely North Korea can occupy the US; 2. why they would choose to invade a small town; 3. and why a band of teenagers would make a difference.

Those reasons are irrelevant. If you think of every movie like that, there are lots of things that aren't realistic but that doesn't mean the movie can't be entertaining. For example, it's unrealistic that Bane can hijack a military plane, blow it up, and then jump out of it safely onto another plane, all in mid-flight thousands of ft above ground.

1. In the movie, they briefly mentioned that the N. Koreans had some kind of new EMP that knocked out the US' communications and equipment. Sure.. that's a far fetch but that's not the point of the movie. The US can attack and occupy other countries, so why can't N. Korea (with Russian assistance)? (N. Korea has one of the largest military in the world)

2. What city they invaded is not the point either.. they could have made it about Manhattan if that makes you happier. They mentioned that the N. Koreans invaded many parts of the country so this is just one of the places they occupied. Perhaps, this small town, USA was a geographical location that gave them some kind of vantage point for a region of the country?

3. Why can't a band of rebels (even teenagers) make a difference? It's not that unbelievable that teenagers can shoot. It's also not that unbelievable that they can organize themselves into an effective force under the right leadership (like a marine). They're not trying to say that the group will save the entire country or kill all the invaders in the town. As Chris Hemsworth stated near the beginning of the movie, it's moreso that a small group can make a nuisance for the invaders and defeat their spirit. Look at the movie Defiance, which is based on a true story. There are also elements of rebellion in other more famous movies like Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Braveheart, etc.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie actually, despite what others say. I think many people were probably expecting something else and had high hopes and felt disappointed, but if you watch this movie without reading any reviews first or criticism, you may be entertained!

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The story comes across as amateurish and childish - not to mention ludicrous and politically incorrect. An unnecessary movie to remake. At least in the Swayze version there was a cold war going on. North Koreans have so many problems of their own eg enough food to eat they are hardly going to mount a parachute attack on suburban Pacific Northwest. Most of it felt like paintball in the woods.

The cast is bad. Josh Peck and Chris Hemsworth as brothers? Josh looked really daft and his character was so annoying. Chris doesn't look good with a crew cut - in fact it makes him look like an overweight redneck. The ladies Isabel and Adrianne looked like they would rather be elsewhere. Poor Will Yun Lee - his biggest role in this drivel.

In fact the audience would all be better of being elsewhere than watching this.

As a fan of the original I was really looking forward to this. What a wasted opportunity.

A few random observations in no particular order:

Killing is nasty business, not cause to dance with glee shouting "wolverines!" Don't misunderstand me, as means to show how one might become numb to killing this could be very effective. It just doesn't work if you're depicting all the killing from afar in a simplistic, comic book fashion. See the original where they execute the Russian soldier and the informer in their midst.

Rebel insurgents generally do not wear make up, have their hair done, or wear fashionable, clean clothes that look like they were just bought at the Gap.

When you jump through window glass and slide across the broken glass on the floor you bleed. A lot.

Hiding in the woods and engaging in guerrilla warfare is dirty. Faces, hands, clothes, etc. Men (even 16, 17 and 18 year olds) grow beards. They do not appear clean shaven at all times and hair gel is not plentiful. Maintaining the Brad Pitt 3 day growth is also difficult.

Also, contemplative evenings spent reminiscing and listening to Creedence are not part of the guerrilla rebel experience.

I read a review where the story of the movie was said to be unlogical and hard to believe. Well it's also hard to believe that a man shoots webs from his arms and that an alien lands on earth and can fly and shoot lasers from his eyes.

But it's not about a band of young men and women fighting against an army that's making this movie bad. It is that it is just so trivial. There is no feeling for the characters involved because they're just the 500th football playing college kids you will see in a movie. There is no heart and there is not one good actor in it.

Not worth watching at all ...

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I can't wait for the new Red Dawn to come out on video. Okay maybe I'll wait for it to hit Netflix. Either way it is going to make a great drinking game. One rule – Every time you see or hear an overused cliché or war trope, drink. You'll be soused 15 minutes into the film. On the up side, the rest of the movie will probably be better that way.

One of my friends that saw the movie with me summed it up nicely. OMG, it really is a remake. Up until we actually started watching the movie she had been holding out hope that they had re-done the movie and fixed the oh so many problems the first Red Dawn had.

The original Red Dawn had its place. I remember seeing it back when it came out. It had all the hot young actors of the day. It's problem wasn't the cast, all of them were good actors, most when on to long successful careers. I suspect many of the actors from this movie will do the same. (I'd tell you who was in it, but I suspect they are already hoping that people forget that they were involved.) The problem wasn't even the concept. Everyone loves an underdog story and there is nothing more under-doggy than a bunch of high schoolers trying to fight back against overwhelming odds. They could have handled the concept, lets be generous and only say, A LOT better. To their credit the writers did try to fill in some of the plot holes for the remake.

They setting was moved from some agricultural town in Colorado to Spokane, which at least has an airbase and decommissioned missile silos that might make it a strategic site if someone was to invade the United States. They also made the point that the kids weren't trying to beat the invaders, but act as insurgents, making trouble where they could.

The new movie does offer a nice training montage and lots of high quality explosions. Sadly the dialogue is just as painful to listen to as it was in the first movie. Too bad they didn't spend a bit less on the pyrotechnics and a little more on the script, but hey, it does have a lot of things that blow up.

I'm really not the kind of gut that gives really bad reviews to anything. I watch a lot of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I'll give Ed Wood movies at least 3 stars for effort. I've seen tons of bad movies. This one is so bad - it still remains bad.

I really liked the 80's movie. Good actors. Engaging story. Good characterization so you felt it each time one of them died. This movie was much more enamored to shaky camera shooting of sub-par action scenes that any of the above.

I could be more forgiving if it was linked to some larger analogy to a modern conflict, but it isn't. Whomever greenlighted this movie should never work in the industry again.

The reviewers that are giving this as a worst move ever review must have been expecting 9 or 10 outta 10 going into this. I expected a 6 and I knew it would be hokey and have unbelievable situations when I decided to see it. But for this type of movie you got to remember that its just about having fun and you will find it entertaining.

The big problems you have to overlook is the inconsistency of whether they have power. Its knocked out originally for the attack but then does it ever come back. Some buildings have power, some have emergency type lighting, some are dark.

It would have been nice to keep Robert as the somewhat shy guy turns to bloodlust lunatic like in the original. The scene from the original where he kills daryl is awesome.

They definitely lightened things up a bit overall. The original has just about everyone dying and this one only has about 3 or 4 of them getting killed.

The gun fights and guerilla attacks are pretty good. They are frequent and keep the pace going pretty well. Of course its nice to have the hottie from Friday Night Lights and Isabel Lucas in the cast. The acting is decent except for a couple weird scenes with Josh Peck. I liked that Helmsworth is back from Iraq which gives the group a little more military background. And as your watching the movie you get a nice patriotic high.

I suggest seeing it especially with the other options that are out as long as you can let go of being critical of its flaws and focus on having a good time.

The opening was good and got me interested. The instant it cut to a football field which required someone to pick up the story and run with it, my heart sank. Same tired, formulaic characters. There were no amazing special effect like in 2012, which you need when the characters are so dull. It doesn't bother me that this scenario was realistic. What bugged me was that it was a dirge of Americanism which much of the world (including us allies) cannot relate to. What happened in 2012 that you felt the need to big-up?. I can't understand how millions can be spent on a film and seems like nothing spent on time with the actors to perform so that we might have the slightest sympathy for them. So many US films have been wrecked by US chauvinism A poor USA bravo film lacking direction

Wow this film is terrible, sincerely attempted but still pretty shocking. It appears to be a star vehicle for high school musical types...with guns.The plot is ridiculous, the acting ham fisted, the fight scenes generic. Josh Peck needs to gain 80 pounds and put that robe back on. It says something when Chris Hemsworth is 'the' recognisable star in this fiasco, he's not exactly an 'A' lister. As for the rest of the (LMFAO) Wolverines i can't remember who they were and i don't care if i never see them again. This pile of dung is aimed at young kids, ones who don't know any better and can be carried along and not be made to think too hard, in fact to not be able to think at all would be a real bonus. By the end of this turkey i was cheering on the North Koreans

Watch this if...you want to see a movie that has a severely flawed storyline, poor casting and acting, and is a shameful remake.

Acting/Casting: 3* - Where do I begin. Chris Hemsworth and Josh Peck look as much like brothers as Chuck Norris and Ralph Macchio. The acting and cast for the most part is abysmal and an absolute joke. Brett Cullen is the one remote bright spot.

Directing/Cinematography/Technical: 3* - The only thing that saves this category is that there was some work put into convincing explosion and action scenes. The directing, much like the plot, is full of holes and really poor film making.

Plot/Characters: 2* - Terrible. This is a generous score. It is one thing to make a movie with unrealistic moments (that is Hollywood at times), it is another to make a movie that has no explanation and constantly dwells on being unrealistic. The latter is this installment of Red Dawn.

Entertainment Value: 5* - If you can get past everything else, then the movie can be marginally entertaining. However, I advise to watch with caution as the flaws make it hard to enjoy.

A few months ago I bought this movie (at a pathetically low price) and took it home and popped it in to watch. I turned it off just 10 minutes in, aching with emotional heartache at this atrocity of a remake. Months later I was surfing Netflix and decided to give this "movie" another shot. Finishing this movie may have been the most trying hardship I have EVER been through, and I have been through as much as the next guy. What director in there right mind would cast some Nickelodeon burnout as the main hero. As for the rest of the C Team cast, consider your careers short and unpleasant. I suppose besides Chris Hemsworth. It was amazing to see a bunch of punk as*** go from generic Adolescents to one of the most elite fighting forces on the planet, enough so that the trained North Korean Army was defeated by them more times than the laugh track played on Drake and Josh. If my memory serves me, the REAL Wolverines from the original weren't so into high-jacking buses in the middle of the zone, or stealing some lame as* secret weapon briefcase, they were a little more realistic in that they blew things up and then immediately retreated. However I must say that Josh Peck did a wonderful job in making me utterly hate him and any t.v. show or movie that he has even been associated with. Stephen Hawking would have been a better pick for an action movie that this Mel Gibson wanna be. If Josh Peck ever told me to "move my ass" I would smack him so hard he would wake up on the set of the "Amanda Show" As all of this was going through my mind, I was wondering what this Director was thinking while filming this POS. Upon further research I came to understand that the movie in fact did not have a director, It had an untalented stunt coordinator trying to play Michael Bay, which resulted in one of the decades greatest filmography failures so far. Dear Director (thy name shall not escapeth from mine tongue) please for the love of Humanity and America please never even lay eyes on a script again. At one point in the movie I was so horrified with Mr. Pecks acting capabilities, I was actually rooting for the North Korean, I expected a plot twist where Kim-Jong-Un would break into the set and Rip Josh Pecks treasonous head right from his shoulders, and show himself as the true protagonist. If I could sue you for damages, being time wasted Director I would gladly do so.